Team Inside
Meet the team...
Scott McKenzie, MCIPR
CIPR Inside Chairman and Senior Consultant, Change & Internal Communications, Hill & Knowlton
Scott works for Hill & Knowlton, a communications consultancy which is part of the WPP group. He has over twelve years experience of managing complex and high profile change and internal communications programme, both in-house and working as a consultant.
With a strong track record in developing and implementing strategies which deliver effective business results, he brings hands-on experience of managing internal communications, marketing, PR and training. Scott has considerable experience of working closely with business leaders and senior stakeholders to ensure that they are fully engaged in change initiatives. He brings a pragmatic, focused approach to any project.
Before joining Hill and Knowlton in June 2006, Scott oversaw the business and operational strategy for the Mortgage and General Insurance businesses of NatWest in the UK. He has also held a variety of roles at Royal Bank of Scotland Group including heading up internal and external communications for the Private Banking business.
Scott has a BA (Hons) in Language and Communication from Cardiff University, a post-graduate qualification in management from the Nottingham Business School and holds the CAM Advanced Diploma in Marketing Communications.
Chloe Roberts, MCIPR
Head of Internal Communications, University of Birmingham
Chloë Roberts, one of our newest committee members, is a communicator with experience in a variety of different communications tactics, sectors and objectives
She started her career as a journalist after quickly realising that her talents were ill-suited to the role of web programmer that she bagged shortly after graduating. She honed her writing and editorial management skills working for Elsevier Science on publications in the field of Computer Security and still retains a passion for technology in its various guises.
Since then Chloë has held a range of in-house management roles with varying national and local foci in the public sector and Higher Education.
Chloë holds an MA in Media and Cultural Studies (2006) and has recently completed her CIPR Diploma (2008)
Kaego Uba, ACIPR
Business Readiness Manager, Shell
Kaego Uba had been working as a Chartered Management Accountant for over five years when, in 2005, she discovered a real passion for taking complex financial information and repackaging it in clear, simple presentations. This was the start of her career as a communicator.
Today Kaego works as a Business Readiness Manager for the new buying process in Shell. She is responsible for stakeholder engagement, including change management activities ranging from communications, training and role mapping, through to post go live support and stabilisation
Prior to this Kaego led a variety of large scale change programmes and projects for Shell, including the introduction of a new expense system for over 3000 European employees, for which she received special recognition.
In 2005, as Events Lead for the Shell African Network (SAN), she launched the first annual SAN dinner and rolled-out other key events like career talks & conferences. During this time Kaego managed to attract a variety of influential speakers and helped grow membership of the network by 57%. Her success in this role led to her being appointed Vice Chair of SAN.
Kaego enjoys understanding stakeholder needs and exploring all methods of engagement, not just the tried and tested techniques. Coming from an accounting background, she is not afraid of complexity, yet she strives for simplicity and complexity reduction and believes that simple messages are always better understood.
Lee Smith, FCIPR
Our former chair Lee Smith, FCIPR, is an award winning internal communicator and a prominent blogger on the subject (www.internalcommunications.co.uk/blog.php).
At 38, Lee has spent half his life working in corporate communications, firstly as a media-focused PR practitioner and latterly as a specialist in employee communication. Over the last two decades he has worked in PR consultancy, headed up large in-house teams and held senior positions with some of the UK’s leading financial and professional services organisations.
In 2006 Lee co-founded Gatehouse, a growing London-based consultancy which works with public and private sector organisations, in the UK and globally, to improve their communications, engage employees and drive through change.
Lee is a visiting lecturer at a number of universities and holds an MSc in Corporate Communication & Reputation Management.
Nicki Allitt
Global Internal Communications Manager, Shell International
Nicki has more than 14 years internalcommunications experience across various industries including; oil andgas, technology, tourism, and media broadcast, along with extensiveinternational experience in Europe, North America, Middle East, Africaand Australasia.
She is currently employed as GlobalInternal Communications Manager for Shell International based in TheNetherlands headquarters. Responsibilities include the development andmanagement of CEO communications to 110,000 employees globally. Sheworks closely with business and functionalcommunication leads todevelop, co-ordinate, align and execute strategies and activitiesglobally. Additionally, she has trained a global network ofcommunication managers to deliver communication skills training forsenior leaders and line managers.
Further international experience includesCommunications Manager for Burj Al Arab, the world's only seven starhotel, responsible for both internal and external communications, witha large focus on media relations, PR and marketing activities in themarkets of the UK, Europe, Russia and the US. Additional internationalexperience gained with the Australian host television broadcaster ofthe Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, with responsibility for both internaland external communications.
Phil Turner
Communications Manager, GAM
Phil works for GAM, an investment management firm with more than 800 employees in 11 offices around the world. He focuses on internal communications planning and delivery – including executive communications, managing the intranet and building corporate culture – but his role also covers brand and corporate responsibility.
Prior to GAM Phil was a consultant in the Change & Internal Communications team at Hill & Knowlton, working with clients such as Microsoft, HSBC, Hewlett-Packard and Rio Tinto.
Phil was also part of the communications team at Customs & Excise and, following the merger with the Inland Revenue, at HM Revenue & Customs.
He began his career as a journalist with corporate publisher Barkers Trident, working primarily in New Scotland Yard writing for the Met Police newspaper The Job.
Sean Trainor
Principal Engagement Consultant, The Brand Union
Until recently, Sean was a principal engagement consultant for The Brand Union, WPP's leading global brand consultancy and design agency with 500 employees in 22 offices around the world. He led a small team of brand engagement consultants responsibile for developing and delivering engagement programmes for global clients who undertsood the value of building their brand from the inside out.
Prior to consultancy, Sean had over 20 years in-house experience. Most recently as Group Head of Internal Communications at Network Rail, his focus was improving leadership communications skills and employee engagement through a period of significant organisational change.
His career began in engineering, moving into senior manufacturing and project management before his introduction to corporate communications as Group Head of Internal and Strategic Communications at BNFL, specialising in internal stakeholder communications and change management.
Contact Sean at
sean.trainor@sky.com
Terri Wade
Business Communications Manager, Royal Bank of Scotland
Terri joined the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2001 with the responsibility of managing the Bank’s communication programme for its new current account mortgage. Over the next four years she continued to produce and implement marketing strategies for Mortgage Services before moving on to manage the marketing programme for Your Bank.
Prior to this Terri has worked in a number of marketing roles across a number of industries including construction, legal services and giftware.
Her Internal Communications career started in 2007 after joining the Corporate Banking Division. Since then she has been responsible for creating the ‘one single view’ approach to communications as well as managing a number of employee engagement strategies including the launch of two major businesses within the Division.
She has completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Internal Communications.
Terri moved to London three years ago and spends the majority of her time still investigating everything the city has to offer, mainly seeing lots of bands and finding great bars and restaurants!
Tom Rye-Weller, ACIPR
Internal Communications Assistant Manager, Lloyds Banking Group
Tom Rye-Weller is an Internal Communications Assistant Manager at Lloyds Banking Group. Tom joined the Group in October 2008 and since arriving has predominately worked on change management and employee engagement.
His career in internal communications began in February 2007 as an Internal Communications Coordinator at Ernst & Young. Here he expanded his role to incorporate media relations and was rewarded with a promotion to Communications Executive in August 2008. He also completed the CIPR Advanced Certificate with distinction in July last year.
Outside of work Tom likes to keep fit, recently completing the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of the Red Cross.
Contact Tom at tom.rye-weller@lloydsbanking.com
Vicki Davies, MCIPR
Director, Marketing & Communications, University of Birmingham
Vicki Davies is Director, Marketing & Communications at the University of Birmingham. A member of the CIPR since 1997, she first joined the Midlands regional committee in 2002 and, since 2005, has been actively involved in CIPR Inside, holding the position of Treasurer since 2007.
Despite the broad range of her current role, Vicki is passionate in her conviction that effective staff engagement and communication underpins an organisation’s ability to deliver its objectives. Having worked in the public sector for more than a decade, managing both internal and external communications, she has first-hand experience of how effective internal communications deliver strategic objectives and organisational change – and what happens when an organisation fails to communicate with its staff.
Vicki holds a Masters degree and a postgraduate diploma in internal communication from the University of Kingston and is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership Management.
Yvonne O'Hara MCIPR
Head of Internal Communications, Department of Work and Pensions
Yvonne Head of Internal Communications at the Department for Work and Pensions where she is responsible for delivering internal communications solutions for the Permanent Secretary and Executive Team to 100,000 staff across the UK in government's biggest delivery department.
She started her career in Dublin working for Kennedy PR specialising in FMCGs (Persil, Domestos, Timotei) and luxury brands (The Merrion Hotel, Veuve Clicquot champagne).
She then moved on to sponsorship and PR management for consumer exhibition company Audience before moving into internal communications at University College London, AMEC, Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Yvonne is a member of the CIPR and recently completed the CIPR Diploma in Public Relations.